FIG. 1 is a generalized prior art elementary telecommunications network showing the path between a call originating point, for example, origination phone 6, and the network such as the MCI network, which will be the assumed network for this disclosure. Typically, a call from an origination phone 6 is handled by a local exchange carrier LEC 8. If, for example, an 800 toll-free number is dialed by the origination phone 6, the LEC 8 recognizes that MCI is the carrier for this particular 800 number. Consequently, the call is routed via line 9 to the MCI origination switch 10. This is the entry point of the call into the MCI network, and further routing may be necessary. However, in order to simplify the discussion of the present invention, simply routing through the switch 10 is presumed. Typically, switches of the type discussed are well-known in the art and identified, by way of example, as a DEX 600E switch, manufactured by Digital Switch Corporation, or alternatively a DMS 250 manufactured by Northern Telecom Corporation. International switches are provided by Ericcson Limited. The switch 10 has an adjunct processor (AP) 14 associated with it. The purpose of the adjunct processor is to receive call detail records (CDR) from the switch and collect them in buffers. Adjunct processors are of the type manufactured by Stratus, once marketed by IBM, and identified as a System 88 processor. This system later became a Stratus XA 2000, which may be used. Each switch in the network, such as switch 11, has an adjunct processor associated with it.
The call detail records are employed by various applications run by the network. For example, cloned data is provided along line 16 to a billing application 18 which posts the normal billing information for calls made by customers. Additional conventional applications include the acquisition of traffic statistics 24, as well as network management 28. Each of these applications utilizes specific data fields within the CDR data cloned by the involved adjunct processor 14. As will be appreciated, in a complicated network, each adjunct processor must communicate with each application so that the number of outputs from each AP, as well as the total number of inputs to the various applications, becomes unwieldy and difficult to manage from a hardware and software point of view.
Users of the various applications 18, 24 and 28 are schematically indicated by box 22. These may be databases of the MCI network or databases of customers who selectively load data from one or more applications. For example, a large corporate customer (user) may wish to monitor statistics regarding toll-free 800 number calls for which it is being billed. The traffic statistics application 24 includes such data for the customer which is extracted from the call detail records (CDR) provided by the various adjunct processors in the system.
The conventional data access point (DAP) 32 controls the routing of calls between network switches. The DAP also may block a call if it is unauthorized, or if network conditions warrant such blocking. The DAP is basically a large processor based database that includes customer profile information. The DAP stores call origination information, including such data as origination phone number, time of day a call was made, etc.